A couple of years ago Top Gear attempted to kill a Toyota Pickup through a series of challenges worthy of a James Bond Villain, but ultimately failing to do so. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe factory turbo Hilux also looks to have plenty of life left, but is its price a death blow to buying it?

Catherine Bach will forever be immortalized for playing the southern comfort known as Daisy Duke, despite having actually been born in Warren Ohio. That's because the hem of her shorts never strayed south of the Mason-Dixon line and she had the legs to keep the South rising again and again. The same can't be said for yesterday's Duked-out '96 Miata, which went down in a narrow 54% Crack Pipe loss, mostly due to its orange and cracker paint scheme.

The MX-5 is generally considered to be the conclusion people jump to when the question of sports…
Read more Read more

Today's 1986 Toyota Hilux casts no allusion upon TV stardom, and in fact the appearance on Top Gear by its right-hand drive English cousin is about as far as things things go in terms of its boob tube exposure.

Celebrity notwithstanding, this lipstick red with a rusted bed Hilux is of interest for another reason. And yes, I know it's not a Tacoma, and don't know why the seller doesn't seem to know that, after all what the hell does the title say?

Advertisement

Advertisement

Whatever.

For the model years 1985 and 1986 Toyota offered a turbocharged edition of the 2,236-cc 22R. Used as a stop-gap until the company could get a competitive V6 under the Hilux's hood, the 22R-TE provided 135-bhp and 175 lb-ft of torque, both about 30 more than the naturally aspirated 22R at the same RPM.

Along with that factory turbo, this truck sports a five-speed manual transmission and part-time 4-wheel drive. This generation also eschewed the solid front axle on the 4x4 edition offering instead a torsion bar independent set up. Manually locking hubs mean when the going gets tough the tough get out and spin their hubs.

The ad makes the claim of just under 150,000 miles on the truck and the undercarriage and rotted-through bed indicate that those didn't take place in a dry climate. Despite that the dashboard shows the effects of life under a brutal sun showing more cracks than an American Apparel Jeans ad. The rest - including the bench seat, graph paper instrument cluster and door panels are all reasonably serviceable and so eighties in appearance you wouldn't be shocked to find Rodney Bingenheimer has taken up residence in the glovebox.

Sponsored

Rusted as the bed may be, the seller says that the cab has not suffered a similar fate. There is a good bit of leper lesions on the left-front fender lip, but that piece and the bed are pretty easily replaceable. And if Top Gear has taught us nothing else, it's that it takes a hell of a lot more than a little rust - or even a lot of it - to kill a Hilux.

With that in mind, as well as the knowledge that this is a turbocharged, stick shift 4x4 pickup, it's now time to consider its $3,999 asking price. That gets you what looks to be a pretty serviceable truck for anything other than transporting free-range liquids, and probably one that will let you crush post-apocalypse mutant cockroaches under its tires, it being so remarkably sturdy.

Advertisement

Advertisement

But is its price as stable as its reputation? Do you think this trusty but rusty Hilux is worth four grand less a Hamilton Washington (stupid brain)? Or, should the seller lighten the price due to rust lightening the truck?